Buy Barbara’s new book

Price drop! Our publisher Green Books have reduced their prices, so we can too – haven’t you always wanted this fantastic manual of how to build and design with bales? Now’s your chance to give that gift, get to grips with natural building, brush up on your dressing techniques – and so much more!

This new edition of the book Building with Straw Bales by our Director Barbara Jones contains the most up to date strawbale building techniques, including sections on compression for both loadbearing and infill designs, and how to build the roof first for loadbearing buildings. Now in full colour for the first time, the beautiful photographs throughout this book illustrate the techniques described and show-case the diverse possibilities of straw-bale building.

A practical manual it’s ideal for self-builders as well as architects and construction industry professionals; straw-bale building is accessible to most people and provides immense opportunity for creative fun, enabling you to design and build the sort of shape and space you’d really like.

It covers design principles; different types of foundations; how to raise and stabilise walls and protect them from the weather, including a detailed analysis of how straw performs with humidity and how straw-bale buildings can easily meet Building Regulations requirements.

Review in Building Limes Forum

Barbara has done it again and even better with this revised and extended 3rd edition of Building with Straw Bales. It is, as it plainly states on the cover, a ‘practical manual for self-builders and architects’, and those two groups, having read this volume, should certainly be able to successfully build a straw bale house.

It has, though, another quality, and that is its ability to inspire. From the opening lines of chapter one, which state the reasons why building with straw makes so much sense, and the reasons there aren’t more straw-bale houses – the predominant cause is “that there is no profit to be made in the usual way of a business selling a product” – to the final appendix on how to make a limecrete floor (accessed online), the book is full to the brim with a true passion.

It has a technical heart wrapped around with an undeniable philosophy and reads in such a conversational manner, that Barbara might be chatting to the reader over a cup of tea.

It is so comprehensive, however, that I cannot think of a single relevant thing that has been left out, and it is a high quality publication crammed with good, colourful photographs, well presented diagrams and text emplacement that are all a credit to the designer’s art.

The part that lime plays in all this, is a major contribution to the practicality of straw bale building and especially to the aesthetic. The lime plasters and washes on these straw walls look stunning adding a sensuousness to any straw bale design that would be hard to emulate with other materials.

If you have an urge to build a planet-friendly house that will give you great pleasure and satisfaction both to construct and to live in, then this is the book for you.

“We are using a lot of the principles from your book which is a fantastic source of information and assisting majorly with our further understanding of straw bale construction.” Trevor Wood, MEng CEng MICE MIEI Trevor Wood Consulting Engineers Ltd.

You can buy it direct from us for £20 (+ £2 p&p) via PayPal or by emailing: clair@schoolofnaturalbuilding.co.uk

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You can still buy copies of the older (2009) version if you prefer for just £15.00.

“The essential guide to straw-bale building.”Grand Designs

“A perfect balance between hard facts, sociological context, and beautiful images… Get yourself a copy of Jones’ book, and buy one for a friend.” The Ecologist

“Explains the principles of the system in straightforward, common-sense terms.” Build It

This book is for self-builders as well as for people working in the construction industry. Strawbale building is accessible to many people who are normally excluded from the construction process, and provides immense opportunity for creative fun, enabling you to design and build the sort of shape and space you’d really like.

Building with Straw Bales explains, in straightforward and common-sense terms, the principles of strawbale building in the UK climate. It covers design principles, the different types of foundations; how to raise walls, stabilise them and protect them from the weather; and how strawbale buildings can easily meet Building Regulations requirements.

This second edition includes sections on natural plasters, a detailed analysis of how straw performs with humidity, and an extensive resources section.